- Pure
- Pure Pure, a. [Compar. {Purer}; superl. {Purest}.] [OE. pur,
F. pur, fr. L. purus; akin to putus pure, clear, putare to
clean, trim, prune, set in order, settle, reckon, consider,
think, Skr. p? to clean, and perh. E. fire. Cf. {Putative}.]
1. Separate from all heterogeneous or extraneous matter; free
from mixture or combination; clean; mere; simple; unmixed;
as, pure water; pure clay; pure air; pure compassion.
[1913 Webster]
The pure fetters on his shins great. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
A guinea is pure gold if it has in it no alloy. --I. Watts. [1913 Webster]
2. Free from moral defilement or quilt; hence, innocent; guileless; chaste; -- applied to persons. ``Keep thyself pure.'' --1 Tim. v. 22. [1913 Webster]
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience. --1 Tim. i. 5. [1913 Webster]
3. Free from that which harms, vitiates, weakens, or pollutes; genuine; real; perfect; -- applied to things and actions. ``Pure religion and impartial laws.'' --Tickell. ``The pure, fine talk of Rome.'' --Ascham. [1913 Webster]
Such was the origin of a friendship as warm and pure as any that ancient or modern history records. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
4. (Script.) Ritually clean; fitted for holy services. [1913 Webster]
Thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. --Lev. xxiv. 6. [1913 Webster]
5. (Phonetics) Of a single, simple sound or tone; -- said of some vowels and the unaspirated consonants. [1913 Webster]
{Pure-impure}, completely or totally impure. ``The inhabitants were pure-impure pagans.'' --Fuller.
{Pure blue}. (Chem.) See {Methylene blue}, under {Methylene}.
{Pure chemistry}. See under {Chemistry}.
{Pure mathematics}, that portion of mathematics which treats of the principles of the science, or contradistinction to applied mathematics, which treats of the application of the principles to the investigation of other branches of knowledge, or to the practical wants of life. See {Mathematics}. --Davies & Peck (Math. Dict. )
{Pure villenage} (Feudal Law), a tenure of lands by uncertain services at the will of the lord. --Blackstone. [1913 Webster]
Syn: Unmixed; clear; simple; real; true; genuine; unadulterated; uncorrupted; unsullied; untarnished; unstained; stainless; clean; fair; unspotted; spotless; incorrupt; chaste; unpolluted; undefiled; immaculate; innocent; guiltless; guileless; holy. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
